Atlantic modernity and its dimensions -- Civilizational sociology and the Atlantic -- Absolutism and post-absolutism in Europe's empires -- Civilization and pre-colonial traditions -- 'Discovery' in the west -- Mercantilism, slavery and the part played by the transatlantic empires in the formation of capitalism -- Communities of the colonial order -- War and imperial re-division between Utrecht and the seven years war -- 'Raising the decibels': republican revolutions of the colonial order -- The Atlantic's distinct modernity.